Source rates as a significant factor in validating any book's claim for divine origin. The sacred book of the Mormon church affords an excellent example. Joseph Smith asserted that what he wrote he had simply translated and copied from golden plates temporarily let down from heaven. Mohammed declared that the Koran came to him in a vision from God. Though different in method, both books claim virtually immediate divine origin as their source.

The Bible claims immediate divine source only for the ten commandments and the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's banquet. The other portions of the Bible reveal varied relationships to human sources.

These human sources for the Bible books demonstrate surprising variety. Instead of the sixty-six books originating from the pen of a single author, the Bible required at least fifty writers. What a diverse assembly! Bible authors include kings but also farmers and peasants, physicians but also military leaders, statesmen, tax collectors, sheep herders and prophets, exiles and repatriates.

These human sources claimed an equally varied relation to divine inspiration. Some of the human authors declared that what they wrote was the direct word of God. Isaiah wrote, "Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me." Jeremiah wrote, "Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me." Amos declared, "Thus saith the Lord." Micah begins, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah..." The book of Esther and the book of Ruth, however, make no divinity claim. Other books simply chronicle history and statement of events. None of the authors declared, "The Bible needs another book of the kind that I can write so I will produce it." Indeed there is no indication that the human authors knew that they were writing what would become a part of the Bible. In fact, Simon Peter declared that some of the Old Testament writers did not completely understand the full meaning of their own writings.

The human sources lived and wrote over equally surprising and varied time periods. Though the book of Job and the works of Moses defy exact time assignment, evidence points to some fifteen hundred or more years before Christ Some books indicate more exact dates based upon the historical references included by the writer. For example, each section of the prophetic oracles of Ezekiel begins with the year, month, and day. Several of the prophets followed the example set by Isaiah and dated their writings by the reign of certain kings.

No doubt the writings of the Old Testament required a time span of more than one thousand years. Such an extended time span involved an amazing kaleidoscope of human cultures that range from pre-deluge civilization, the early cultures of Egypt and Babylon to the Roman world domination. The various books of the Old Testament picture the beginnings of human culture, government, racial divisions, the development of agriculture, industry, and military aggression. Individuals, tribes, and nations march through the centuries on the biblical pages. Some of the biblical record describes people who lived in tents and caves, others in palaces and temple sanctuaries. What a panorama of the centuries! What a kaleidoscope of history!

What is the puzzling fact that unifies these widely separated writings? In spite of amazing diversity in time, writer, and culture, students agree that the books of the Bible reveal a striking unity of message. Other religions have "bibles" which are collections of heterogeneous materials. Unlike the Bible these other sacred books may have little or no order, progression, or unifying plan. The Bible stands in sharp contrast. In spite of multiple and diverse authors, in spite of the long time span of composition, the many separate books of the Bible permit the student to trace an orderly unity in the revelation of God's holy nature and in the progression of divine providence.

For example, in From Eternity to Eternity, Eric Sauer uses the historical unity of the Bible to trace the progressive revelation of five teachings: the history of Israel, the history of the temple, the history of Christ, the history of the salvation of the nations, and the history of demonism.

No other book series - secular or religious -preserves comparable traceable theme unity in spite of extreme diversity in time, culture, and writer.

The scholarly J.P. Lange declared, "Viewing the Holy Scriptures as to its effects, its unity proves it to be the Word of God." The Bible is unique among all sacred books in its unity in diversity!

Fair judgment requires a credible explanation for this fact!

Common sense cannot accept the explanation that this diversity of writers achieved this unity of message by accident.

Common sense cannot accept the explanation that this diversity of writers achieved this unity of message by crafting what they wrote to fit into the pattern of the centuries.

Common sense cannot accept the explanation that this diversity of writers achieved this unity of purpose through careful choice by an unknown and unnamed council of wise leaders.

Common sense can accept the explanation that this diversity of writers achieved this unity of purpose because of God's inspiration. The facts demonstrate that God chose the writers and God gave the message.

Common sense sees no alternative!

Common sense declares that the skeptic's lack of reasonable explanation for the unique unity in the sixty-six books leaves no alternative to the proposition that the Bible is what it claims to be: the Word of God.

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